Please note: This is a participatory workshop that will take place over two sessions. Because the second session will build off of discussions and activities from the first, we strongly encourage participants to attend both sessions.

Wednesday, May 4: 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. 
Saturday, May 7: 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.

Climate grief, also known as climate anxiety or eco-anxiety, is a psychological response to ecological loss driven by our unfolding climate crisis. It can be felt as profound sadness, helplessness, guilt, anxiety, rage, or numbness. An increasingly common condition, it’s becoming more widely recognized and accepted as a valid response to our changing world. This workshop will help us understand what climate grief is, why it’s important, and how it might become a positive force in our lives—one that can motivate us towards greater joy, community, creativity, self-awareness, and social change. 

This workshop will feature three distinct perspectives on the topic: Thomas Doherty, a renowned psychiatrist who is a founder of the field of Ecopsychology; Emma Marris, a widely-published environmental journalist and writer who is working on a self-help book about climate grief and activism; and Daniela Naomi Molnar, an artist, poet, and writer who will discuss how climate grief has become a creative force in her art.

Daniela will lead the two workshop sessions. The first will consist of presentations and discussion, concluding with a creative promptt (appropriate for everyone, whether or not you consider yourself an artist). The second (optional) session will provide an opportunity for us to share our responses to the prompt and to reflect further with the workshop participants.

Advanced registration is required. Click here to register.

About the presenters

Daniela Naomi Molnar is an artist, poet, and writer working with the mediums of language, image, paint, pigment, and place. She is also a wilderness guide, educator, and eternal student. She can be found in Portland, Oregon, exploring public wildlands, or at www.danielamolnar.com / @daniela_naomi_molnar (Instagram).

Dr. Thomas Doherty is a clinical and environmental psychologist based in Portland, Oregon who has developed a specialty addressing people’s concerns about environmental issues and climate change. His multiple publications on nature and mental health include the groundbreaking paper “The Psychological Impacts of Global Climate Change,” co-authored by Susan Clayton, cited over 700 times. Thomas is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), Past President of the Society for Environmental, Population and Conservation Psychology, and Founding Editor of the academic journal Ecopsychology. Thomas was a member of the APA’s first Task Force on Global Climate Change and founded one of the first environmentally-focused certificate programs for mental health counselors in the US at Lewis & Clark Graduate School. Thomas is originally from Buffalo, New York.

You can learn more about Dr. Thomas Doherty at his website. Thomas also co-hosts the Climate Change and Happiness podcast.

Emma Marris writes about the environment and other topics for National Geographic, Wired, the New York Times and the Atlantic, among others. Her book on changing relationships between humans and animals, Wild Souls, came out in July 2021. She lives with her husband and two children in Klamath Falls, Oregon.